Factors influencing mothers' decisions to consult a general practitioner about their children's illnesses

In the management of childhood illness only a small proportion of symptoms result in a medical consultation.

This pilot study set out to assess the influence of sociodemographic factors, social network, reason of choice of doctor and contact with allied health professionals on mothers' decisions to consult a general practitioner about their children's illnesses.

In one suburb of Melbourne, Australia all mothers with children aged 11 to 26 months were identified from the maternal and child health centre register. Mothers were invited for interview and if they attended were asked to keep a health diary for their child for four weeks. Logistic regression was used to test a multivariate model of factors predicting consultation with the general practitioner.

A total of 150 mothers were identified. Interviews were carried out with 81% of target mothers and diary data collected for 72% of target children. Over the four-week diary period, consultation rates with the general practitioner were significantly higher if symptoms were recorded on 15 days or more, or the general practitioner had been recommended by a friend or was the mother's own doctor before the child's birth. Contact with a maternal and child health nurse was also a significant predictor of medical contact. Contact with friends and relatives, whether or not the study child was the first child in the family, mother's education, husband's occupational status or contact with a chemist were not significantly related to medical consultation rates.

Choice of doctor (current doctor same as doctor before birth of child, or doctor recommended by a friend) resulted in significantly more consultations as did contact with a maternal and child health nurse. These factors would seem to require further study and inclusion in future models of consulting behaviour.